The Drinks Show: Cocktails, Cocktails and more Cocktails

So this weekend I ventured over to Exhibition place for some cocktail sampling and good fun at The Drinks Show.

I’ll admit, I favor a good glass of wine over a cocktail any day. But at the same time, I can certainly appreciate when a tasty mixed drink is passed my way.

The highlights included…

Perfect sample sizes. Granted, it took my friend and I a few times to realize that just because they are about the same size of shot glasses, doesn’t mean they should be kicked back in one gulp that way.

High quality recipes: Everything I tasted was good. Now, I happened to be traveling with a few other cocktail connoisseurs who had some additional legwork testing out far more varieties than I could manage. But every single drink I tried was incredibly good and delightfully inventive. Lots of fresh mint too, which I find particularly yummy.

Good hosts: The people behind each drink counter were consistently talkative, friendly and helpful. If they had more than one type of drink, I’d ask for their recommendation – they always had a favorite, with clear reasons why, and not one of their choices were disappointing.

Some things I’d have liked to have seen…

Better food prices. This was one complaint I heard from a few people, though I fortunately came full of dinner and ready to focus solely on the drinks. But the cost was quite high for such small portions of finger foods…I wonder what making hors d’oeuvres complimentary would have done to entice people to stick around and keep buying tickets for more cocktail samples.

Brighter Lights. Okay, this is just because I happened to be carrying around a camera. I suppose if you’re setting the lights on dim to offer a little bit of a club-y vibe, that makes sense….but this is just what I want, right?

Here are a few of my absolute favorite recipes from the show:

The Maple Mile
1.5 oz. Centennial 10 Year Old Whiskey
1 oz. lemon juice
1 oz. lime juice
1 oz. simple syrup
1 oz. maple syrup

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, add whisky, lemon juice, lime juice, simple syrup and maple syrup. Shake and strain into a rocks glass and garnish with frozen cranberries.

The Lakeview
1.5 oz Bacardi Superior Rum
1 fresh lemon
5 oz. white grape juice.
1 sprig of rosemary

Fill a tall glass with ice. Add rum, the juice of 1/8 fresh lemon and top with white grape juice. Garnish with rosemary sprig.

The White Berry
1 oz. Bols white creme de cacao
3 oz. Ocean Spray white cran-strawberry juice
1 fresh strawberry

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, add creme de cacao and white cran-strawberry juice. Shake until icy cold and strain into martini glass. Garnish with a strawberry slice.

[Images: Rachel Segal]